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Dale Earnhardt Jr. reacts to Chase Elliott's performance at Homestead

Brian Jones Profile Picby:Brian Jones10/31/24

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Chase Elliott (6)
Oct 19, 2024; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; NASCAR Cup Series driver Chase Elliott (9) during qualifying for the South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

Dale Earnhardt Jr. liked what he saw from Chase Elliott in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff race at Homestead last Sunday. On Dale Jr. Download, Earnhardt shared his reaction to Elliott nearing a P5 finish and keeping himself in the hunt to reach the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race.

“I was pleasantly surprised or happy to see Chase Elliott relatively competitive throughout the day Sunday,” Earnhardt said. “They have just really struggled to run like we expect them to run, how they expect to run. They’ve not matched some of their teammates over the last couple of years, but no denying the talent that the driver has.

“He’s a champion, a student of the sport and the talent of the team, it’s just a matter of time of like when’s this going to come back? It’s good to see them running well. The sport’s way better off when Chase is competitive. That was kind of good to see.”

Chase Elliott has momentum heading into Martinsville

Elliott has finished fifth in two of the last three races. However, he will need to win at Martinsville on Sunday to be one of the four drivers to compete in the Championship 4 race on Nov. 10. The last time Elliott competed at Martinsville was in April and earned a P3 finish. He last won at the track in November 2020, the same year he won the Cup Series title.

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On The Teardown podcast, Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic shared his thoughts on Elliott potentially winning at Martinsville. “The Chase Elliott thing is interesting because I’m looking at it, he finished third in the spring, but before that, he led a lot of laps here, but not a lot of great finishes,” Bianchi said to co-host Jeff Gluck. “Today surprised me with Chase, because I did not expect him to be as good as he was for this race, but he was certainly in the mix, as well. Kind of backslid a little bit towards the end, but again, you can make a case for any of these guys at Martinsville. It would not surprise me at all to see Chase go there and to win.

“It’s going to really set up — I think it’s going to be a nice sequel to what we saw today, now that you’ve got these guys, all great at Martinsville, slugging it out. I’m excited for it.”